Chapter 337: Lack of Troops and Generals (/)
Chapter 327 Lack of Troops and Generals (6-15)
The backlash from the strong pressure, Lincoln no longer had the energy to focus on. There was no major killing spree, that meant there was still room for maneuver, and after suppressing the southern rebellion in the future, he would just find a way to ease the relationship.
The worst outcome was nothing more than losing a state’s vote. If he loses this war and the US splits in two, then even if he manages the relationship well, he still has to get the hell out.
President Lincoln, who had just returned to Washington, received bad news that the Delaware next door was still untouched.
“What’s going on, why is Delaware delayed in getting done?”
No wonder Lincoln was angry, Delaware is only a nominal animal slave state, in fact slavery is already in name only here.
There were a total of over 20,000 blacks in the state, and just under 1,800 were slaves.
Wilmington and its environs, the most prosperous, have been economically connected with Pennsylvania. The state was very small, just over 6,000 square kilometers, and plantation owners naturally had little power.
The Secretary of State in charge of coordinating Delaware was grimacing; Maryland, which had been difficult to resolve, had been taken care of by the President, and Delaware, which was thought to be the easiest to persuade, had been slow to come to fruition.
“Originally Delaware was loyal to the Union, and we also had an overwhelming advantage in the January vote in the state legislature.
But the intervention of the four British, French, and Austro-Western states complicated matters. The suppressed Southern faction became active with their support.
These men could not bring Delaware down to the South, but they brought the state’s preparations for war to a standstill.
Under the guise of opposing the Civil War, they have organized marches of popular demonstrations to demand the neutrality of the state government. Not long ago twenty thousand men gathered and at one time occupied the State House.”
Lincoln frowned and asked, “Why don’t you suppress it, as I recall the governor of Delaware is loyal to the federal government?”
“Journalists from several European countries have appeared in Delaware, and the ministers of England, France, Austria, and Spain have sent a note to the state government expressing their close interest.
The Delaware government is concerned that forceful suppression could have unforeseen consequences and trigger intervention by the Great Powers.” The Secretary of State replied with a grimace
This was not the first time that four countries had interfered in the internal affairs of the United States. Without the intervention of the European powers, the Southern government wouldn’t have been able to pull so many states together for independence.
Especially the two populous states in the west, Kentucky and Missouri, which had historically been pulled together by the northern government, now fell to the southern government.
It is important to realize that of the fourteen states in the Confederate government, Missouri ranked first in the number of whites and Kentucky ranked third in the number of whites.
These two states had more whites than the six least populous states in the United States combined, and their addition undoubtedly added to the strength of the Southern government.
Historically, these two states joined the Northern government and still 40,000 men joined the Southern army. But after they joined the Southern government, fewer than a thousand are now willing to work for the Northern government.
The reason was very real, the plantation owners were not willing to compromise their interests and fought for their own.
Not so the capitalists, who, having been lured to the Southern government, were content to follow the Confederate government.
It’s all about profit, and just because the plantation economy in the South prevented the capitalist economy from growing, it didn’t mean it prevented the capitalists from getting rich.
With cheap raw materials for industry and a market of more than 10 million people, a quarter of whom had middle-class incomes, it was a quality market.
This market, with its small number of homegrown capitalists, is far less competitive than in the federal government family, and becomes very attractive to capitalists who are not very powerful.
If it’s easier to make money on that side, support that side, and capitalists don’t feel guilty in the face of profit.
Public opinion reversed itself, and the Southern government trumpeted the Northern government’s desire to turn the South into an economic colony, and the blindly obedient populace naturally supported the Southern government.
The southern government added three states and grew its population by more than three million, while the northern government decreased by more than three million. With this increase and decrease, the power contrast between the two sides changed.
Lincoln was unaware of these changes, and remained confident that he could defeat the South, but he had a headache with the possibility of intervention from European countries.
The British burned the White House not long ago, Lincoln also came from that era, and now also added the French, Austrian and Western countries, how can there be no sense of fear at all?
Lincoln asked with concern, “Well the Delaware issue is put aside for now, what do the Russians say, are they willing to support us?”
It is very unwise to directly confront the four countries of Britain, France, Austria and West, and before a world war breaks out in Europe, it is impossible for the United States to ignore the joint intervention of the European countries.
If there were no oceans to stand in the way, with the strength of the United States these four at random, can be put on the ground to beat.
This has been proved in the battle of the British burning the White House. District tens of thousands of British troops, let the United States lost the capital, the federal government’s army is really difficult to reassure.
Secretary of State Safar replied, “The Czarist government is willing to support our war of unification, but only diplomatically, they have limited strength in the Americas and have no way to offer us substantial support.”
Verbal support was of no use, the four countries of Britain, France, Austria and Spain were close to coming down to help in person. Seeking the help of the Tsarist government, naturally, they wanted the Russians to be able to engage in some activity and hold back one or two of the Great Powers.
Now Britain, France and Austria are all bordering on the Russians, any one of them is a great diplomatic victory for the federal government.
Lincoln said reluctantly, “Do we support their expansion in the Far East in return for a word of support?”
Trying to buy off the czarist government now, the federal government had too little leverage in its hands. In addition to diplomatic support for each other, in practice the U.S. government was very limited in the help it could provide to the czarist government.
Now the Russians are most short of money. If the federal government has money, smashing a few hundred million pounds, custodian of the Russians can make a big news, and at the same time hold Britain, France and Austria’s energy.
Unfortunately, the present United States is not the same rich and powerful American empire, and can not take out such a large sum of money.
Czarist government is also not see the rabbit do not spread the eagle’s main, there is not enough benefits, why should they help the United States to pull the hatred?
Secretary of State Safar argued, “Mr. President, this topic doesn’t make any sense. The Russians are reforming, and right now they need a stable international environment, and there is no way they are going to go down in flames for us.”
It wasn’t that he wasn’t trying, it was just that the family was too thin. He had gone to great lengths to get verbal support from the Russians in exchange.
The conversation ended here, it couldn’t be solved, and there was no longer any need to talk about it further.
The Minister of War, Simon Kamei, hurried in and said eagerly, “Your Excellency the President, an urgent telegram from the front.”
President Lincoln calmly said, “Speak, what is the bad news again, I can hold out.”
Just one look at Simon Cameron’s face, he knew that the quasi where to defeat the war again, it seems that from the outbreak of the war the northern army has not yet won.
Secretary of War Simon Cameron said grimly, ” On May 1, 1861, the rebels launched an attack on Cincinnati. Our troops fought hard for three days and nights, and finally were defeated because they were outnumbered, and Ohio was in a state of emergency.”
Lincoln immediately stood up, snatched up the battle report and read it carefully. The artfully crafted vocabulary was omitted outright and summarized:
There were 50,000 Confederate troops attacking Cincinnati, and the Federal government sent a 12,000-man infantry division, plus 32,000 militia from Ohio and 21,000 militia from Indiana to defend it, and ended up losing the battle.
It was indeed outnumbered, and after ignoring the militia forces in both states, the federal government had only one infantry division, a quarter of the enemy’s strength, and it was very hard to hold out for three days.
Lincoln does not care about the war, he only knows that the federal government sent less than one-third of the infantry division left, killed, or captured a number of people, the militia of the two states also suffered heavy losses, the specific data is unknown.
“Above Ohio is the Great Lakes, and once the Rebels were allowed to take possession of it, the Federal Government was split in two by the enemy overland.
The War Department must find a way to keep this state no matter what. Militarily we may be able to afford to lose it, but politically we will not be allowed to lose a state.”
Lincoln, with his half-baked military common sense, made an immediate judgment.
Secretary of War Simon Cameo replied with a bitter look on his face, “Yes, Mr. President. But now we need more reinforcements, and the original plan is out of date.”
This battle had directly made the War Ministry understand that the enemy was not a rabble, and the original plan was: the militias of the surrounding states would establish an encirclement, plus the government had drafted 75,000 militia and regular troops, and would directly roll over them.
Now the encirclement had been torn open, and once Ohio fell, Pennsylvania next door fell to the battlefield, and Pittsburgh, the steel center of the United States, was exposed to the South’s military might.
Even if the Southern government’s limited strength prevented them from occupying the place for a long period of time, all it would take was for them to wreak havoc once, and much of the Northern government’s industrial superiority would have disappeared.
There was no way around it, the Great Lakes region was the core industrial region of the United States, and truly could not afford to lose it. With Ohio alone falling to the battlefield, they had already lost a lot.
Lincoln replied without hesitation, “I will once again issue a national draft order to recruit 300,000 militiamen from all states to serve. But this will take time, and for a short time you will still need to figure it out yourselves.”
The aftermath of the lack of preparation was revealed, and as soon as any front was lost, the federal government did not have enough troops on hand.
Population advantage and industrial advantage were all just war potential, if they couldn’t be converted into military power, then potential would always be just potential.
Minister of War Simon Kamei lionized, “The federal government has a limited number of troops, there are too many places to guard, in the short term we can only order the militias of the neighboring states to rush in for reinforcements.
Considering that the enemy may strike on all sides and disrupt our troop deployment, we need to have a maneuver force of at least seven hundred thousand to be able to extinguish this rebellion.”
The initial plan was to extinguish this rebellion with only 100,000 troops. As a result, after one battle, Symon Kamei became conservative.
Lincoln was surprised and asked, “So many troops are needed?”
Secretary of War Simon Cameron explained, “Mr. President, based on the enemy’s troop deployment, it won’t be long before Maryland, Pennsylvania, Indiana, Illinois, Iowa, and other areas fall into battle.
How a state falls, and the political troubles it brings us, are incalculable. It would be difficult to counterattack with a total defense without sufficient troops.”
The United States is different from other countries, as long as the federal government dares to give up any state, they will have to eat their words. Maybe under the rabbit’s death, these state governments would simply surrender to the South.
Lincoln helplessly said, “Well, you’re the professional in this regard. Any other problems you need me to solve, you can say it all together.”
Secretary of War Simon Cameo said awkwardly, “We don’t have enough officers in reserve, and we have to draft officers who have retired to come back to serve again.
I know it’s already been conscripted, but that’s still not enough. What I mean is to conscript veterans who have gone to war as basic officers, and the age can be relaxed to 55.”
Veterans indeed, and in an age where life expectancy was less than 55 years per capita, recruiting veterans in that age bracket was something that Saimon Kamei was really pushed to do.
Senior officers could promote newcomers, and the demand wasn’t great anyway; a careful search from the Federal Army could always find them.
Platoon officers, who were in the greatest demand, could not be found. The U.S. Army was already small, and the officers above the seventh level were from the South, all of whom left when the Civil War broke out.
Now a one-time expansion of the army by more than ten times, even if all the active veterans were promoted to officers, Simon Card Beauty would not be enough to make up the number.
He could only settle for the second best, recruiting over-age retired officers to come back and serve.
Lincoln proposed, “Has the situation gotten this bad? We can let the students from the military academy graduate early and enter the army to serve.”
Secretary of War Simon Cameo reminded, “Your Excellency the President, cadets in the military academy who are in their first year or above have entered the military to serve in the army. As for the first year cadets, they have only just entered the school and have not yet learned anything.”
(End of chapter)